Continus coggygria cultivar Kolcot.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Cotinus plant, botanically known as Cotinus coggygria, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Kolcotxe2x80x99.
The new Cotinus was discovered as a cross-pollination of two unidentified selections of Cotinus coggygria, not patented. The new Cotinus was discovered and selected by the Inventor in 1998 as a single flowering plant in a controlled environment in Boskoop, The Netherlands, within a population of the progeny resulting from the cross-pollination.
Asexual reproduction of the new Cotinus by cuttings was first conducted in Boskoop, The Netherlands in 1998. Since then, asexual reproduction by cuttings has shown that the unique features of this new Cotinus are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The cultivar Kolcot has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature and light intensity without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Kolcotxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Kolcotxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct Cotinus:
1. Upright and outwardly spreading plant habit.
2. Freely branching growth habit.
3. Dark green-colored leaves.
4. Early and freely flowering habit.
5. Large showy and feathery inflorescences.
Plants of the new Cotinus differ primarily from plants of the parent selections primarily in growth habit and foliage coloration.
Plants of the new Cotinus can be compared to plants of the Cotinus cultivar Royal Purple, not patented. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Boskoop, The Netherlands, plants of the new Cotinus differed from plants of the cultivar Royal Purple in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Cotinus were more freely branching than plants of the cultivar Royal Purple.
2. Plants of the new Cotinus had green-colored leaves whereas plants of the cultivar Royal Purple had red-colored leaves.
3. Plants of the new Cotinus flowered during the first growing season whereas plants of the cultivar Royal Purple did not flower until after the first growing season.